A symposium in the November 2006 issue of "College English" addresses the question, "What should college English be?" In this article, the author presents his answer to this question--it should be a functional approach to English studies. By English studies he means everything that is done in English departments. Most English departments teach…

The separation of the mechanics of rhetoric from the ethics of rhetoric has had disastrous consequences, in education and in our public life. (JH)

The Department of English at Wayne State University is planning to introduce a doctoral program directed to the processes involved in the composition of expository prose. Students admitted to the program will be trained primarily in linguistics and cognitive psychology, though they will also work in communication theory and rhetorical analysis.…

Harold Allen states that language study will become an integral component of the college English curriculum when English departments recognize that a professional knowledge of the nature and function of language, of current theoretical studies in it, and of the geographical, historical, and social variations in language is vital to understanding…